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Man arrested after alleged hit and run with stolen car in Grand Forks

Officers arrested a man Friday night for allegedly striking a car and hitting several objects in a hit-and-run incident near Choice Fitness gym, according to the Grand Forks police department.

Shortly before 5 p.m., callers near Choice told officers they had seen a Ford F-150 hit "several vehicles" in the parking lot before leaving the area. An investigation afterward revealed only one car had been hit, police said.

Officers later found the alleged driver, 27-year-old Evan Nelson, at a dead-end near South 16th Street and 36th Avenue South, where Sgt. Kevin Kallinen said Nelson had run over a barrier closing the road. Nelson then fled on foot across an open field off of South Washington Street before police arrested him in the 3600 block on South Washington Street.

Following the arrest, officers determined through investigation Nelson had allegedly struck one vehicle and a sign near Choice, along with two more signs, a mailbox and a road closed barrier past Altru South where the Red River Behavioral Health Clinic is.

"And he apparently drove onto that bike path that runs along that drainage structure back there," Kallinen said. "He almost hit a woman that was walking her dog. She had to jump out of the way and get off the bike path as he went by."

Officers later learned the Ford F-150, which they had to impound due to "extensive damage", wasn't even Nelson's, Kallinen said Saturday morning.

Officers are also attempting to charge Nelson with possession of stolen property after they got in touch with the truck's owner in Traill County, Kallinen said. He added the owner hadn't reported anything only because the person didn't realize the vehicle had been stolen.